Species-Resolved Mercury in a Brazilian Amazonian Population: Tracking Selenium Modulation of Blood Partitioning and Urinary Excretion
Abstract
Resolving mercury (Hg) species in humans is essential to understand its toxicity, transport, and excretion, but multimatrix speciation data remain scarce. Amazonian riverine populations exhibit a unique global Hg status, exceeding international safety thresholds. Because Hg fate depends on its chemical form, approaches limited to total Hg or methylmercury (MeHg) measurements in a single matrix are insufficient to resolve the metabolic processes. This work tracks MeHg and inorganic Hg (iHg) in matched blood, plasma, and urine samples from Amazonian riverine residents and examines associations with selenium (Se) status, a proposed modulator of Hg toxicity. MeHg dominated in blood (mean: 76% of total Hg) with a distinct partitioning pattern compared to that of iHg: 7% of MeHg and 24% of iHg in blood were associated with plasma. Blood MeHg partitioning into plasma decreased with increasing Hg and Se blood levels. Urinary Hg excretion was dominated by iHg, positively correlated with Se excretion, and modulated by blood Se. Together, these results reveal matrix-specific and dissimilar distributions of Hg species in humans, with variable Se influence, highlighting distinct pathways of Hg transport, partitioning, and excretion. This sheds light on human Hg dynamics and opens avenues for understanding its fate at the global scale.
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BibTeX
@article{esplugas2026speciesresolved,
title = {{Species-Resolved Mercury in a Brazilian Amazonian Population: Tracking Selenium Modulation of Blood Partitioning and Urinary Excretion}},
author = {Juliette Esplugas and Emmanuel Tessier and Gabriel Cezarette and Camille Chen and Fernando Barbosa and Maïté Bueno and Zoyne Pedrero},
journal = {Environment \& Health},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.1021/envhealth.6c00144},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05806976v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Species-Resolved Mercury in a Brazilian Amazonian Population: Tracking Selenium Modulation of Blood Partitioning and Urinary Excretion
AU - Juliette Esplugas
AU - Emmanuel Tessier
AU - Gabriel Cezarette
AU - Camille Chen
AU - Fernando Barbosa
AU - Maïté Bueno
AU - Zoyne Pedrero
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/22
JO - Environment & Health
DO - 10.1021/envhealth.6c00144
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05806976v1
AB - Resolving mercury (Hg) species in humans is essential to understand its toxicity, transport, and excretion, but multimatrix speciation data remain scarce. Amazonian riverine populations exhibit a unique global Hg status, exceeding international safety thresholds. Because Hg fate depends on its chemical form, approaches limited to total Hg or methylmercury (MeHg) measurements in a single matrix are insufficient to resolve the metabolic processes. This work tracks MeHg and inorganic Hg (iHg) in matched blood, plasma, and urine samples from Amazonian riverine residents and examines associations with selenium (Se) status, a proposed modulator of Hg toxicity. MeHg dominated in blood (mean: 76% of total Hg) with a distinct partitioning pattern compared to that of iHg: 7% of MeHg and 24% of iHg in blood were associated with plasma. Blood MeHg partitioning into plasma decreased with increasing Hg and Se blood levels. Urinary Hg excretion was dominated by iHg, positively correlated with Se excretion, and modulated by blood Se. Together, these results reveal matrix-specific and dissimilar distributions of Hg species in humans, with variable Se influence, highlighting distinct pathways of Hg transport, partitioning, and excretion. This sheds light on human Hg dynamics and opens avenues for understanding its fate at the global scale.
SN - 2833-8278
ER -